Plans To Redevelop Newington Site Hit Snag

No Proposals Submitted By Deadline

October 05, 2012|By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant, The Hartford Courant

NEWINGTON – — The town's effort to redevelop the long derelict National Welding property suffered a setback when no one submitted proposals to rehabilitate the site, forcing the town to extend the deadline.

Responses to the town's request, issued in August, were due Wednesday. The town still hopes to receive proposals and extended the deadline to Dec. 5, Economic Development Director Andrew Brecher said.

In addition, a state program the town hopes will help pay to tear down and remove asbestos from the former metal fabricating plant has taken longer than expected to start.

The town did get some good news, however -- state officials announced they would begin soliciting applications for the program next week.

Brecher downplayed the delays and setbacks, calling the effort "a fluid process." He and Town Manager John Salomone said they were confident the project would regain momentum.

"We're going to be as creative and as aggressive in a positive way as we can because we think it's a great opportunity for us and the region," Salomone said. "We think it's a great proposal. I still think the planets are aligning on this."

National Welding closed in 1994 and was seized by the town in 2008 for back taxes. The property sits on Cedar Street next to a CTfastrak busway station, on which construction began earlier this year.

Salomone and Brecher cited the New Britain-to-Hartford busway, as well as the property's proximity to Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut Medical Center, home of a new bio-tech facility, as reasons to seek redevelopment now.

A major concern for developers is asbestos contamination, Brecher and Salomone said. The town hopes to receive about $1.5 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development's municipal development and grant program for demolition and cleanup, Brecher said.

"I think that's a key item," Salomone said. "The more we can do to clean up the property, the more attraction it will have for developers."

Brecher said the DECD indicated that the program would begin accepting applications in September, prompting the town to issue its requests for proposal in August.

DECD spokesman Jim Watson said that his agency will send letters to all 169 Connecticut municipalities and developers next week inviting them to apply for grants. The submission deadline is Dec. 15, he said.

Once the DECD receives the applications, it will select projects and make a recommendation to the State Bond Commission, which must give final approval for the funding, Watson said.

The state last year awarded $25 million from the same program, Watson said.

The town's current request for proposals will not produce a plan or a preferred developer. Town officials will review the ideas presented and issue a second request, from which it will choose a proposal and developer.

Office, retail, education, technology and medical are among the site's possible uses, the town says.